The role of adsorbate structure in the photodissociation dynamics of adsorbed species: Methyl iodide/MgO(100)

Surface pump-probe femtosecond-laser mass spectrometry: time-, mass-, and velocity-resolved detection of surface reaction dynamics

A detailed account of the experimental methodology of surface pump-probe femtosecond-laser mass spectrometry is presented. This recently introduced technique enables the direct time-resolved investigation of surface reaction dynamics by monitoring the mass and the relative velocity of intermediates and products of a photoinduced surface reaction via multiphoton ionization. As a model system, the photodissociation dynamics of methyl iodide adsorbed at submonolayer coverage on magnesia ultrathin films is investigated. The magnesia surface preparation and characterization as well as the pulsed deposition of methyl iodide are described. The femtosecond-laser excitation (pump) and, in particular, the resonant multiphoton ionization surface detection (probe) schemas are discussed in detail. Results of pump-probe time-resolved methyl and iodine atom detection experiments are presented and the potential of this method for velocity-resolved photofragment analysis is evaluated.

Laser Control of Desorption through Selective Surface Excitation

We review recent developments in controlling photoinduced desorption processes of alkali halides. We focus primarily on hyperthermal desorption of halogen atoms and show that the yield, electronic state, and velocity distributions of desorbed atoms can be selected using tunable laser excitation. We demonstrate that the observed control is due to preferential excitation of surface excitons. This approach takes advantage of energetic differences between surface and bulk exciton states and probes the surface exciton directly. We demonstrate that desorption of these materials leads to controlled modification of their surface geometric and electronic structures. We then extend the exciton mechanism of desorption, developed for alkali halides, to metal oxide surfaces, in particular magnesium oxide. In addition, these results demonstrate that laser desorption can serve as a solid-state source of halogen and oxygen atoms, in well-defined electronic and velocity states, for studying chemical processes in the gas phase and at surfaces.

Thermal and Photochemistry of tert-Butyl Iodide on Rutile TiO2(110)

The thermal and photochemistry of tert-butyl iodide (t-buI) dosed at 100 K on rutile TiO2(110) has been studied using isothermal and temperature programmed desorption mass spectrometry. Nondissociative adsorption and desorption dominate the thermal behavior with dose-dependent t-buI desorption peaks at nominally 220 and 150 K. Ultraviolet photochemistry occurs readily, but the behavior of submonolayers and multilayers differ qualitatively. Ejection of t-buI and i-C4H8 dominate during submonolayer photolysis at 100 K. Multilayer photolysis results are also dominated by ejection during irradiation, but the t-buI component is strongly suppressed, and the maximum rates of i-C4H8 and HI ejection did not occur at the outset. A mechanistic model capturing the observations involves both direct and substrate-mediated electronic excitation of t-buI. According to this model, ejection of t-buI occurs only from transient substrate-mediated formation of anionic t-buI. For either excitation path, the C-I dissociation probability is significant, and the excited tert-butyl product rearranges readily to form i-C4H8 that is ejected. For any local region where there is multilayer coverage, products formed at the adsorbate-vacuum interface are ejected promptly, but products formed within the multilayer are trapped. Thus, ejection of t-buI is suppressed, and trapped primary photodissociation products, tert-butyl and I, react to either reform t-buI or rearrange to i-C4H8 and HI. The latter two products remain trapped and are subsequently induced to desorb by acquisition of momentum from collisions with subsequently formed translationally excited photodissociation products.

Laser control of product electronic state: Desorption from alkali halides

We demonstrate laser control of the electronic product state distribution of photodesorbed halogen atoms from alkali halide crystals. Our general model of surface exciton desorption dynamics is developed into a simple method for laser control of the relative halogen atom spin-orbit laser desorption yield. By tuning the excitation laser photon energy in a narrow region of the absorption threshold, the yield of excited state chorine atoms, Cl(2P(1/2)), can be made to vary from near 0 to 80% for KCl and from near 0 to 50% for NaCl relative to the total yield of Cl atoms. We describe the physical properties necessary to obtain a high degree of product state control and the limitation induced when these requirements are not met. These results demonstrate that laser control can be applied to solid state surface reactions and provide strong support for surface exciton-based desorption models.